Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Back on the 30th September 2006 we visited my brother Christopher down in Southsea, Hampshire and while there had a game on the Treasure Island Adventure Golf course on Long Curtain Road near Clarence Pier. On the lucky last hole I managed to 'fire the cannon' and won a free game. The rest is history!

The Free Game Pass that set the ball rolling!

Since that first course visit we've visited a grand total of 671 courses around the world. Of these we've played 389, while 282 of them have been unplayable for a variety of reasons.

Who knows why so many courses around the country fall into disrepair!?

Earlier this year we hit some BIG minigolf landmarks on our tour, with visits to the 600th and 650th courses in overall and in the UK while on holiday in the South West of England.

This summer I also revisited Southsea for Christopher's Stag Do and managed to squeeze in a round on the Victory Trail Adventure Golf course at Treasure Island - and I once again hit the top hole to win a free game!

The Victory Trail at Treasure Island - where our tour began

There's some nice theming on the Pirate course

As well as some tricky holes

The 8th on the Victory Trail

The last hole

The Lucky Last Hole in Southsea - scene of a few Free Game wins. None have ever been claimed

We estimate there are around 50 more courses we're yet to visit in the UK. Although when we began there were around 600 courses!

Check out the photos and links below from some of our landmark course visits.

Emily won a decommissioned flag from Splash Point Mini Golf. The course has now introduced new red flags

Emily had to guess where the ball - played by Portugal's Nuno Cunha (the reigning British Masters champion) - was. You can see the answer here

Splash Point Mini Golf is an 18-hole course in Worthing's Denton Gardens. The game has been played on the site since the 1920's, with the Splash Point Mini Golf course a new addition to the town's attractions in 2010.

Splash Point Mini Golf has hosted a number of tournaments since opening and the layout is a real test of minigolf skill. Check out the great video from the 2012 British Masters filmed by the team at 2dogimaging.

Visit the Splash Point Mini Golf website for more details. The @Worthing_Golf Twitter feed is also worth following as there are frequent reports on local weather conditions, just in case you turn-up in Sunny Worthing to find the course closed owing to inclement weather.

Friday, September 25, 2015

Our fellow minigolf enthusiasts Matt and Helen Dodd recently visited the seaside resort of Weston-super-Mare and went along to the Dismaland theme-park created by renowned street artist Banksy. They were kind enough to send along some photos of the five-hole Mini Gulf course which features an oil caliphate theme.

A flamingo looks on

When I asked Matt, the reigning Surrey Invitational Minigolf Champion, what the it was like, he said "It was a dreadful course."

The corner of the flamingo hole

"But it's Dismaland after all." he added.

It might've been dismal, but it was only a quid a go. Although for five-holes after you've already paid to go in and it doesn't look so cheap. That grey sky looks bleak too

With the Dismaland site closing this weekend it's a course we won't ever get to play on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour. But it's great to know that plenty of people got to have a go on the layout before it shut down.

Minigolf explorer Helen Dodd putting through an old tyre obstacle. In the Dismaland battle of the Dodds the result was a draw with a score of 18 apiece. There was no official par for the course. Nor were there scorecards

The Dismaland Bemusement Park was built on the site of the old Tropicana Lido on Marine Parade in Weston-super-Mare, North Somerset. You can watch the Dismaland advert on YouTube to see what you've missed.

Weston-super-Mare has some permanent mini and crazy golf courses that we have played. We've also played a few art installation miniature golf on our tour too.

Monday, September 21, 2015

Report from the first Pyongyang Minigolf Open Tournament in North Korea.

North Korea's first Miniature Golf course

My friend Dylan Harris runs Lupine Travel, a business that operates holidays and tours to the far flung reaches and hidden corners of our world. On his recent trip to North Korea he and his party competed in the first Pyongyang Minigolf Open Tournament!

The Pyongyang Minigolf course club house sign

The Pyongyang Minigolf Open Tournament was a warm-up event to the 2015 DPRK Amateur Golf Open competition which was part of the Lupine Travel trip.

Some coaching on the Flat Loop hole. A very tough obstacle

The competition was held on North Korea's first Miniature Golf course which is next to the Rungna People's Pleasureground. The course itself has a small clubhouse that sells beer and food.

One of the competitors in the tournament receives some tips from the course staff

Fourteen players from nine countries competed in the one-round, 18-hole Pyongyang Minigolf Open Tournament. The competitors were from North Korea, the UK, Australia, Germany, Slovenia, Switzerland, Estonia, the Netherlands and Singapore.

Caddies from the course accompanied each group of three players and marked their scores. Players were also able to choose from a selection of professional minigolf balls to use on the tricky course.

The winner of the Pyongyang Minigolf Open Tournament was Calum Slowther from the UK with a score of 46.

The Volcano hole

Organiser Dylan said "It was an interesting course to play. The staff there were very knowledgeable about minigolf and the various types of balls. We were told that the course used to be in Kim Jong Un's personal residence but he decided to gift it to the North Korean people and had it moved to its current location. The red velvet covered bench that can be seen on the photos is where it is claimed Kim Jong Un sat while he directed the workers on where to place each hole."

The Pyongyang Minigolf course and red velvet covered bench in the centre

Dylan added "We were told the course holds local competitions and we were introduced to one of the members of staff who'd won the most recent staff competition. I'm going to get lots of practice in for the event next year and hopefully come back as a winner next time."

Lupine Travel run trips every month, but the next minigolf event will take place in October 2016 to coincide with the DPRK Golf Open.

Lupine Travel was formed in 2007 and specialises in trips to unique destinations. You can travel to North Korea, Chernobyl, Eritrea, Turkmenistan, Transnistria, Iran, Iraqi Kurdistan, Bhutan/Nepal, Somaliland/Ethiopia, Antarctica and more with Lupine Travel. Check out the Lupine Travel website for details of the trips available.

According to various sources 'Miniature Golf Day' is always celebrated on the 21st of September - a date that is always highlighted on our calendar. So head out and have a putt, there are hundreds of courses in the UK (indoors and out) and tens of thousands of layouts around the world.

Playing in the World Crazy Golf Championship in Hastings - home to some fine minigolf courses

Saturday, September 12, 2015

This summer we hit the BIG minigolf milestone of our 600th course visit as part of our holiday in the south west of England. During that trip we also made our 650th visit when we arrived at Greens Cafe, Crazy Golf and Grass Putting in Padstow Harbour, Cornwall.

We had great weather on our visit

Greens Cafe and Minigolf is very close to the harbour in Padstow

Greens Cafe is home to a brilliant Crazy Golf course that has 18 unique holes. We've played a lot of minigolf courses with concrete surfaces and they are not always that playable. The Green's course was not only playable, but skill-based and great fun too. We'd definitely play there again.

The Crazy Golf course is set out on four levels

An uphill shot from Emily

We had a whale of a time on the course visit

Emily heading towards a very good score

There are plenty of unique obstacles on the course

The course was the 629th visited in the UK and the 378th played overall. It was also the 51st visited and 12th played on our holiday roadtrip.

Some Egyptian-theming!

We really enjoyed our round on the course and both scored some great holes-in-one. In our match-up we tied on a score of 34.

On the home-straight

There's also a good looking Pitch & Putt course at Greens, however we didn't have time to play it this time.

The Pitch & Putt course was also called Grass Putting on some of the signs

The tiered grass miniature golf course

We really liked the scorecards at the course, and a really nice touch was receiving a sticker for scoring a hole-in-one. Some great minigolf souvenirs.

To date we've visited 670 minigolf courses on our Tour, with 21 of them overseas. This means the next course we visit will be the 650th in the UK. When we began travelling to visit all the courses in the UK there were around 600!